Latch means for cabinet doors



July 11, 1933. S. HAMMER 1,917,297

LATCH MEANS FOR CABINET DOORS Filed Jan. 22, 1932 INVENTOR Jamaal 17am 1/2 6'! 18 M ATTORN Y Patented July 11,1933 v V, I I v f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

sAnruEL HAMMER, or BROOKLYN, NEW, yonnnssrenoa ro UNITED METAL Box co.

Inn, on snooxnynnnw YORK, A conronn'rron on new YORK LATCH MEANS FOR CABINET DOORS Application filed January 22, 1932. Serial No. 588,083.

This invention relates to latch means for the invention consists in the improved latch cabinet doors, and has for its general obmeans for cabinet doors, and in the form, ject and purpose to provide a simple and construction and'relative arrangement of its efi'iciently operating latch for the doors of several parts, as will be hereinafter "more cabinets in which clothes dryers or other defully described, illustrated in the accomvices may be housed, and in which the door panying drawing and subsequently incoris automatically latched upon closing the porated in the subjoined claims. same and securely held in closed position In the drawing wherein I have disclosed againstaaccidental release, together with one simple and satisfactory embodiment of 19 means for readily effecting the release of the invention, and in which similar reference the latch which obviates any projection on characters designate corresponding parts the face of the cabinet door, and which is throughout the several views, so located and arranged asto be quite incon- Figure 1 is a fragmentary front eleva spicuous when the cabinet is closed. tion of a clothes dryer cabinet, thedoor 35 More particularly, my present invention thereof being partlybroken away and illus- 1 is concerned with an improvedlatch means trating one practical form of my present infor the door of-a cabinet clothes dryer of vention. the type shown and described in my pend- Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view ing application for patent Serial No. 581,200, taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. l;

29 filed December 15, 193 1, and in which there Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view 70 is provided a clothes rack support mounted of the door showing the latching finger therefor vertical travelling movement within the of, and cabinet. My invention, in its essentials, com- Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken prehends the provision of a latch plate or substantially on the line 44of Fig. 1.

finger fixed to the inner side of the hinged Referring in detail to the drawing, 5 des- T5 door of the cabinet and adapted tocooperignates the cabinet body which may be of ate with a part of the clothes rack support any desired construction, but is preferably when the door is moved to closed position, stamped from sheet metal and adapted to be to thereby securely latch and hold the door mounted either upon thewall face, or within 39 against opening movement, and which latcha mortise or recess formed in the wall face. ing engagement of the finger with said sup- The'front open side of this cabinet body is port is released in the initial upward ver provided with the door 6 hinged along one tical movement of the support from its norvertical edge thereof, as indicated at 7. mal position by a manually operable element Withinthe body of the cabinet, a clothes extending downwardly through the bottom dryer or other apparatus is housed. Since 55 wall of the cabinet. a detailed description of, this apparatus is It is also a further object of the invenunnecessary for a full understanding of my tion to provide an emergency means for.mov present disclosure, only the parts thereof ing said rack support out of engagement by which; are essential to' such understanding the latching finger in the event that said will be herein referred to, though,"if desiredf manually operable means for vertically mova full understanding ofsuch apparatus may" ing the supportin the casing should for any be obtained by reference to my co-pending reason become inoperative. application heretofore referred to.

It is also an additional object of the in- 'The'clothes dryer includes a support 8 for vention to provide means mounted on the therelatively adjustable arms 9 from which rack support yieldingly engaging the inner the articles to be dried are adapted to be susface of the door and operating upon the pended. This support ispivotally mounted release of the latching means to project said for vertical swinging movement upon the door outwardly towards its open position. carriage plate 10 which, in turn, is mounted With the above and other objects in View, within the'body of the cabinet for vertical travelling movement between the upper and lower ends thereof. The carriage plate, to-

gether with the clothes rack support, moves by gravity to a normal position at the lower 5 end of the cabinet, and is raised or elevated to the upper end of the cabinet by means of a rope or other" flexible connection 11 with the carriage plate 10, said flexible element extending downwardly through the bottom wall of the cabinet adjacent one vertical edge thereof as shown in the drawing. When the carriage plate 10 is in its normal lowered position, the support 8, together with arms 9, may be raised in a perpendicular position in substantially parallel relation with the carriage plate 10 and with said-support and the arms 9 disposed within the open side of the cabinet body. Upon-then. closing the door 6, the various parts of the clothes dryer are completely concealed as well as housed and protected against injury or the collection of dust and dirt thereon. 7

'It is desirable, of course, in cabinets of this kind, designed for use in private apartments or dwellings, that the cabinet shall detract as little as possible from the appearance of the room, and also that there shall be a minimum of projection of cabinet parts from the face of the wall. To this end, therefore, I have devised an improved latch means for the cabinet door which altogether eliminates any projection whatsoever from the face of the door for the purpose of releasing the latch and moving the door to open position. In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, this door latch means may consist in the latch finger shown at 12, which is in the form of a rigid metal arm which is welded or otherwise permanently fixed to the inner face of the door plate near its lower end and adjacent to its free vertical edge. This latch finger or arm projects at right angles to the plane of the door plate and has a vertically extending edge 13 disposed in spaced par allel relation to the inner face of the door and the obliquely inclined edge 14 extending from the rear edgeof the latch finger to the upper end of its forward vertical edge 13.

The latch finger 12 is so located relative tothe rack support 8, that when the latter is raised toits vertical position within the open sideof the cabinet,upon closing the door the inclined edge 14 of the latch finger is brought into bearing engagement against the lower edge of the support 8 before the door reaches its fully closed position. Upon then applying the requisite pressure against the outer face of the door, this inclined edge 14 of the latch finger forces the support 8 and its carriage upwardly within the cabinet until'the lower edge of the support 8 rides over the upper terminal ofthe latch finger, whereupon said carriage and the support will drop by gravity to their normal positions,

and the. lower edgeofthe support 8 will be interposed between the vertical edge 13 of the latch finger 12 and the rear face of the door 6. Thus the door is securely latched and tightly held in its fully closed position. Since this latching means is wholly contained within the body of the cabinet, it is obvious that there is no possibility of the latch being accidentally released as might occur if the same were actuated by a movable part on the face of the door.

It will nevertheless be evident that when desired, the door can be very easily and quickly released for movement to its open position, merely by pulling downwardly upon the end of the flexible element 11 which extends through the bottom wall of the cabinet. The carriage plate 10 with the support 8 will thereby be lifted for a sufficient distance to I herein shown a sheet metal cup 16 having.

its open end, securely fixed in the support 8 and housing the coiled springl'? which surrounds a reduced part of the pin 15 projecting through an opening in the, closed end of the cup 16.

It will be evident from this description 1 that when the door 6 is moved to its closed position, the rear side of said door before the latter is, fully closed comes into bearing contact against the outer end of the pin 15, and forces the same into the cup 16, thereby compressing the spring 17. .Thus when the door is fully closed, the expansion pressure of this spring acting on pin 15, is transmittedto the door 6, tending to urge the lat.- ter towards an open position and thus hold the edge 13 of the latch finger 12 in bearing contact against the lower edge of support 8. Accordingly, when said support is raised to release the same from engagement with the latch finger, said spring pressed pin 15 will immediately act to move the door towards its open position, so that upon the release of the pulling strain on the flexible element 12 and the descent of thesupport 8 to its nor mal, position, the latch finger 12 will be out of the path of movement of the support. The door may then be manually swung to its full open position at one side of the cabinet body. v

' From the foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying draw ing, theconstruction, manner of operation.

and several advantages of my present invention will be clearly and fully understood. Itwillbe seen that I have devised a very l/Vhile this pin might be mounted means, from the face of the cabinet door.

When thedoor is closed, the finger piece or hand grasp attached'to the flexible element 11 is positioned closely adjacent to the bottom wall of the cabinet so that it' will be quite inconspicuous. Although this use of the flexible operating element which is provided for raising and lowering the carriage plate 10 and racksupport within the cabinet for the purpose of releasing the door latch, will usually be found quite sufiicient, it is nevertheless just possible that this flexible element might break or become detached from connection with the carriage plate 10, so that in such event, if the cabinet door were closed, it could not be opened without serious damage thereto. Although this possibility is somewhat remote, I nevertheless herein suggest the provision of an emergency means whereby the carriage plate and the rack support may be lifted sufliciently to release the latching finger on the door. As shown, this emergency releasing means may conveniently consist in the provision of the pin 18 suitably fixed at its upper end to the lower end of the carriage plate 10 and projectingdownwardly through the opening 19 in the bottom wall of the cabinet body, when said carriage plate is in its normal lowered position. This pin also will be quite inconspicuous, and need only project through the opening 19 for a distancesuflicient to raise the lower edge of support 8 above the upper end of the latch finger 12 when an upward pressure is applied to the lower end of the pin. However, it is to be understood that this emergency latch releasing means is not essential, and may be eliminated if desired.

It will be apparent from the above description that the several elements comprised 111 my improved latch means for a cabinet door are of very simple mechanical form, and may be readily ap'plied'in the manufacture of a dryer cabinet, without materially increasing production cost. The device is also exceedingly durable, as well as highly efficient and serviceable for the purpose in view. Although I have herein shown and described one simple and practical embodiment of my improved cabinet door latch, it

is nevertheless to be understood that the essential features thereof might be incorporated in various other alternative, structural forms, and I therefore reserve the privilege of resorting to all such legitimate changes in the form, construction and relative arrange ment of the several elements as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combinationwith a cabinet having Y a hinged door, and a member mounted within 1 said cabinet for vertlcal movement; a latch finger projecting from the rear face of said door for cooperatlve latching engagement with said member when the latter is in itslowermost position within the cabinet, means extending exteriorly of the cabinet for moving said member upwardly therein out of engagement withthe latch finger, and spring means on the vertically movahsle member placed under compression by the door when.

moved'to closed position and acting against sald door to urge the same towards an open position upon the release of said latch finger.

2. In combination with a cabinet having a hinged door, and a clothes dryer mounted within said cabinet for vertical travelling movement having a flexible operating ele ment connected therewith; a latch finger fixed to the rear face of said door to cooperate with a part of the clothes dryer within the cabinet and latch said door in its fully closed position, said latch finger being released upon operation of said flexible means tomove the dryer upwardly within the cabinet body, and means movable with the dryer having resilient bearing engagement against the inner face of the door to urge the same towards its open position upon the release of the latch finger.

3. In combination with a cabinet having 7 a hinged door, and a clothes dryer mounted V therein, including a vertically movable carriage and a clothes rack support mounted on said carriage, and a flexible operating member for said carriage. extending exteriorly of the cabinet body; a latch finger fixed to the rear face of the door and cooperating with said clothes rack support to latch the cabinet door in a closed position, i

said carriage and the rack support being adapted to be lifted from a normal position in the lower end of the cabinet by means of said flexible operating member to release the latch finger, and an auxiliaryemergency releasing means fixed to the carriage and projecting below the cabinet body, whereby said carriage and the racksupport may be lifted independently of said flexible operating member.

4. In combination with a cabinet having a hinged door, an article supporting device within the cabinet, and means for moving said device from the lower to the upper end of the cabinet, a latch finger projecting from the rear face of the door cooperating with a part on said device in the lowermost position thereof to latch said door in closed position, said latch finger being released by the operation of said means to move the device upwardly in the cabinet.

5. In combination with a cabinet having means to move the carriage upwardly in the cabinet, and additional means fixed to the carriage and projecting exteriorly of the cabinet for manual operation to lift said ce- Tiage to latch releasing position independently of said first named means. a

6. In combination with a cabinet having a hinged door, an article supporting device within the cabinet, and means for moving said device from the lower to the upper end of the cabinet, a latch finger projecting from the rear face of the door cooperating with a part on said device in the lowermost position thereof to latch said door in closed position, said latch finger being released by the operation of said means to move the device upmany in the cabinet, and additional means on said device, operating upon release of the latch finger, to urge the door toward open position.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

SAMUEL HAMMER. 

